HOLLAND, MI -- Former Holland City Clerk Jenifer French, fired in 2006 over allegations she wrongly took a property tax credit, should get her job back, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled.

French was fired in 2006 for filing a homestead property tax claim on a South Shore Drive home in Holland.

Her husband also had claimed the same exemption for a home the couple owned in Douglas, but they filed separate tax returns and French was living in the Holland home for significant periods.

Holland City officials, in investigating the matter, determined that French falsified her voter registration application and filed a Principal Residence Exemption affidavit to "personally derive substantial financial benefit."

Since she was fired, the case has wound its way through decisions from two arbitrators, an Ottawa County Circuit Court judge and, finally, the state Court of Appeals.

In today's ruling, a majority of justices said that Ottawa County Circuit Court Judge Ed Post had no authority to throw out an initial arbitrator's 2010 decision that French should be reinstated with full back pay. She was being paid $66,000 a year.